Analyzing Employee Resistance to Change Management Processes

This essay delves into the critical issue of employee resistance during organizational change management. It explores various strategies to mitigate this resistance, including the importance of effective employee communication, ensuring their involvement in the change process, and fostering motivation. The essay also highlights the significance of conflict resolution and the crucial role of leadership in navigating change. Drawing upon various academic sources, the essay analyzes the effectiveness of these measures, emphasizing that proactive management, clear communication, and employee engagement are essential for successfully implementing change initiatives and minimizing resistance. The essay concludes by stressing the pivotal role of upper management in fostering a supportive environment that encourages employees to embrace change.

Running head: MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION
Management and organization
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Introduction
In the current business state of affairs, one of the major challenges being faced by the
business organizations is to cope up with the rapid change in the market trend. In order to do so,
they are in the need of change management in order to have the flexibility to change the existing
organizational structure according to the situation. However, in relation to the implementation of
the change management process also, there are number of challenges being faced by the business
organizations. One of the major challenges being faced is the resistance from the side of the
employees. Thus, it is important for the business organizations to have effective means to
overcome these challenges.
This essay will discuss about the different measures that can be initiated to overcome and
mitigate the resistances from the employees in implementing change management process.
Moreover, different literatures will be used to review and critically analyze the effectiveness of
the discussed measures.
Employee communication
One of the major sources of employee resistance is to not having effective and positive
communication between the employees and the management. Without having the proper
communication among the internal stakeholders, it becomes difficult for the managers to identify
the needs and requirements of the employees prior to the implementation of the change. This led
to the emergence of the resistance among the employees due to the non-fulfillment of their
requirement and issues. In this case, initiation of the effective communication will be the most
effective measure to overcome the resistance in change. According to Bateh, Castaneda and
Farah (2013), upper level management should initiate effective process of communication in the

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organization along with having direct contact with the lower level employees. This will ensure
that issues and challenges of the employees will get properly communicated to the upper level
management. On the other hand, having effective and favorable communication process in place
will also help the upper level management to communicate the benefits of change process to the
employees.
The authors have also stated that employees tend to resist to the change in major cases
due to the reason that they do not have the clear idea about change process. Majority of the
employees tend to believe that they are going to be affected from the implementation of the
change management. Thus, according to the authors, having the effective communication
channel and process will ensure the employees are properly communicated regarding the benefits
of the change process. This will help to reduce the negative perception from the employees.
Employee involvement
Involvement of the employees in the implementation process of the change management
is important due to the reason that it will help the management to design the approach of the
change management according to the requirement and areas of development. According to
Shirey (2013), Lewin model of change management will help in having an effective
implementation of the change management and overcoming the probable challenges. According
to this model, the first step to be followed in the implementation process of change is to unfreeze
the existing organizational processes and systems. In this step, upper level management involves
all the associated stakeholders in identifying the issues and challenges of the employees. Thus,
the areas of improvement will get identified. According to the authors, this will have dual
benefits for the management by having proper identification of the issues along with

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understanding the requirement of the employees. Moreover, this will also enable the employees
to have the fair idea about the approach and objective of the change process in the organization.
This will also ensure that employees will have favorable impression about the change
management in the organization and will less resist to the change.
Employee motivation
The more motivated will be the employees, the more will be their interests in involving
themselves in the implementation process of the change management. One of the major reasons
for the employee resistance in the change management is the less motivation and interest of the
employees to adopt change. In some cases, the employees are having lack of confidence to get
adjusted to the new change and they prefer to stay in their existing processes. According to
Sinha, Abraham, Bhaskarna, Xavier and Kariat (2014), in order to overcome the disinterest of
the employee in adopting the new change, upper level management should have to keep their
employee motivated.
It is also being suggested by the authors that upper level management should initiate
training to their employees in order to keep them equipped and trained according to the current
business requirement. Thus, the more equipped will be the employees in their workplace, the
more will be their interests to accept the change in the organization. Moreover, trained
employees will also be able to deal with the organizational challenges that they will face in the
new processes. On the other hand, according to the authors, lack of training for the employees
will deter them from taking new organizational challenges in their workplace and this will
increase the probability of resistance from the employees.

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Resolving conflict effectively
Conflict resolution is one of the major factors that should be considered by the upper
level management in overcoming the challenge of employee resistance. This is due to the reason
that implementation process of change management will face number of conflicts between the
associated stakeholders. However, these conflicts can become fatal in the long term if they
cannot get resolved in time and effectively. Furthermore, lack of effectiveness in resolving the
conflicts will also lead to the resistance in the change process. According to Katz and Flynn
(2013), conflict resolution should be initiated by the upper level management in order to prevent
the emergence and amplification of the conflict among the associated stakeholders.
The authors have also stated that resolving the conflict in the primary stage will help to
have positive perception among the stakeholders. Moreover, it will also help the upper level
management to have the idea about the factors that are creating issues with the employees or
other stakeholders. In accordance to the identified issues and gap areas, the upper level
management will be able to design strategies to overcome the challenges. On the other hand, this
will also prevent the origination of the negative impression of the employees. However, the
authors have also stated some key factors that should be considered by the upper level
management in initiating the conflict management system.
One of the major factors to be considered is the honesty and impartial approach of the
managers in resolving the issues with the employees. This is important due to the reason that
partial approach of the managers in managing their employees in the change management
process will cause issues among the section of the stakeholders. These issues will further cause

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negativity among the employees and will lead to the emergence of the resistance among the
employees.
Leadership roles
Leadership in any organizations is one of the major competing factors in effectively
managing the internal stakeholders. Thus, in the case of overcoming the employee resistances in
organizational change management, leadership roles should be effective enough. According to
Van der Voet (2014), effectiveness of the leadership roles will determine the origination of the
resistances in the change management process. This is due to the reason that if the leadership
roles are effective in the organization, then the relationship between the internal stakeholders will
be more effective and favorable. Moreover, it will also help the upper level management to have
the favorable influence on the employees.
The authors have also stated that having effective leadership roles will also help both the
lower level employees and the upper level management to have favorable communication. Thus,
the upper level management will be able to communicate the objectives of the change
management to their employees and on the other hand, employees will also be able to
communicate their issues to their superiors. According to the authors, initiation of the effective
leadership approach will also help the upper level management to have motivated and engaged
employees in place. Thus, the probability of emergence of resistance from the side of the
employees will be less.

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Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that there are number of measures and options available for the
managers in mitigating and overcoming the employee resistance in the process of change
management. This essay discussed about the different elements that can be effective in dealing
with the employee issues and resistances in the process of change management. In addition, there
are number of journal articles are being used in order to evaluate the different opinions being
given different authors. It is noted in this essay that the upper level management is having the
major role to play in reducing the probability of emergence of resistance from the side of the
employees in the process of implementation of change management. It is also evaluated in this
report that motivation and involvement level of employees should be favorable in their
workplace in order to have less origination of resistance.

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Reference
Bateh, J., Castaneda, M.E. and Farah, J.E., 2013. Employee resistance to organizational
change. International Journal of Management & Information Systems (Online), 17(2), p.113.
Katz, N.H. and Flynn, L.T., 2013. Understanding conflict management systems and strategies in
the workplace: A pilot study. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 30(4), pp.393-410.
Shirey, M.R., 2013. Lewin’s theory of planned change as a strategic resource. Journal of Nursing
Administration, 43(2), pp.69-72.
Sinha, V., Abraham, A., Bhaskarna, B., Xavier, K. and Kariat, K., 2014. Role efficacy: Studying
the impact on employee engagement, employee motivation and attrition. International Journal of
Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals (IJHCITP), 5(4), pp.35-54.
Van der Voet, J., 2014. The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public
organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational structure. European
Management Journal, 32(3), pp.373-382.